NEWS

PC players eager to enter the wearable IT device market

Seeing wearable IT devices gradually becoming popular, most PC brand vendors and ODMs have established R&D teams to develop related products and expect the devices to enjoy surging demand in the first half of 2014, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

Brand vendors that have already been known to be developing wearable IT products include Apple, Sony, Epson, Acer and HTC, and their upstream supply partners have also started working with the vendors to help develop such products, the sources said.

Research firm Juniper Research forecasts that global wearable device sales will increase from about 15 million units in 2013 to 70 million units in 2017, while Credit Suisse Securities also expects the scale of the wearable device market to grow from US$3-5 billion currently to US$30-50 billion in the next 3-5 years.

Wearable IT devices have a wide range of applications including glasses, watches, belts, clothing items and other personal accessories with many of them expected to target the healthcare segment with cloud computing support.

However, since PC brands do not usually have a strong presence in the healthcare industry, their marketing for this industry will be important.

Acer has recently said that the company is set to enter the wearable IT device market and is currently evaluating necessary patents and applications for watches, glasses or other devices.

HTC reportedly has established Emerging Device division, led by HTC North America president Mike Woodward, aiming to focus on developing wearable IT products and handling related global marketing.

Although Asustek Computer is also interested in the wearable device sector, its currently tight R&D resources are preventing the company from making major investments in the new business, the sources said.

Source: DigiTimes